<p>Join the group! There’s one other CC-we who joined so far. I’m the admin if you guys are trying to figure out who I am when you join the group! </p>
<p>btw it’s great to meet everyone! One question that’s been bugging me about this is why exactly Cornell does this. Is it because our grades weren’t good enough or because we submitted our app late and they already accepted the amount of people they wanted? Was something wrong with our application? It’s just a bit weird to me, thats all
I applied for Cornell’s AEM program, which is supposed to be the smallest/competitive programs in Cornell so I thought maybe they just didn’t have enough room for me? Or maybe I didn’t meet their standards? I dunno, I was just musing about this whole thing. I’m still 100% going to take the offer</p>
<p>Do you know how the financial aid is for transfers? Any worse, any better?</p>
<p>Anyone else a AEM major (or will be through this offer?)</p>
<p>Also if you cant access the Facebook Group link (Join!), I posted it in a google doc so you can just paste it in your browser: <a href=“Cornell GT - Google Docs”>https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KWPIzSWFX2F6SSwVhtg7cg2cvjxgsPsTB665XUZvRzs/edit</a></p>
<p>@TheClown : So when I met the director of CALS transfers, she said it was basically because they had no more room for us…our application got us in but their was literally no space (weird, but that’s what she said)…also she said the financial aid is the same as if we were entering in as freshman :)</p>
<p>Bumping the thread 
</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s as much activity because of the Facebook group. However bumping this would get more people to see the thread…and hopefully some of those people recieved a GT offer </p>
<p>Either way, I’m just trying to bump this as well :P</p>
<p>@TheClown I am also an AEM GT. </p>
<p>This year is gonna be weird</p>
<p>@appplicant Definitely. I’m just worried about taking the right courses and getting that 3.5. In high schoool, that would be easy, but college is a whole different thing. </p>
<p>@TheClown, I am a GT for this fall and was just recently accepted to CALS. From my experience and from other GT’s in the past, I think you should worry more about getting all the requirements. I had the same fear about the 3.5 entering college and I was able to far exceed that requirement the first semester. If you were accepted as a GT, I am sure you have the capability to get a 4.0. Just have to work hard your first year, but its totally doable. I had larger problems fulfilling all the reqs. for the biology major at my current school. Most importantly, before you decide on the school you will choose for your freshman year, make sure you can take all the requirements. Cornell is kinda strict with that. I learned the hard way, and ended up having to take a winter course and currently a Saturday class. </p>
<p>Hello all you very lucky GTs. My d was wait listed at CALS and is going slightly nuts. She knows how incredibly slim the chance is of getting in off the wait list and --even though she’s written a “letter of enthusiasm” and has not entirely relinquished hope of going as a freshman – she would MUCH rather have received the Transfer Option offer. She’s heard that SOME of those wait listed will get GT offers, but that doesn’t ease her mind much: if that’s true, it’s perfectly possible she’ll end up not among that lucky “some.”
My question is: why on earth would CALS wait list candidates that they’re not going to extend GT offers to? What they seem to be saying to the wait list is “We find you qualified but unfortunately don’t have room in the freshman class, unless our yield turns out lower than we expect.” Whereas what they’re saying to the GTs is “We find you qualified, definitely don’t have room in the freshman class, but can make room for you in the sophomore class.” Really really not fair to the wait list, seems to me!
Can anyone with more experience/perspective/insight explain this??</p>
<p>Yeah why wait list someone vs give them a GT ? Is one better than the other?</p>
<p>I think there’s a girl on the Facebook group that got wait listed and a GT offer for CALS though </p>
<p>Hi @MummyOfCollegian - I remember your story and I’m really rooting for your daughter! I definitely hope she gets off the waitlist if not offered a GT. I feel very lucky too, haha. It’s a great feeling knowing that there’s a spot waiting for you at your dream school should you want it and can meet the relatively straightforward requirements. </p>
<p>I think that writing the letter of continued interest was definitely a move in the right direction. I’m pretty sure that most waitlisted applicants just sit and stew and don’t really do much (the same way I’m doing absolutely nothing for Georgetown and WUSTL) so the fact that your daughter took the initiative to craft such a letter is a good thing. </p>
<p>And I really don’t know, sorry. It does seem a bit strange, doesn’t it? I think the thing about GT’s is that while Cornell knows that it wants us for sure, they’re still a bit unsure whether or not we actually are qualified to go, which is why we have to “prove ourselves” somewhere else for two semesters before we are officially in. On the other hand, Cornell believes that the people they waitlisted can handle the work as first-year students–it’s just a matter of space. I do think that the GT is a little bit better because the ball is in our court now. </p>
<p>Anyway, I think your daughter has a good chance of getting off the waitlist should Cornell go to it this year. They will first take people that can fill a certain niche (the age-old oboe player analogy), then the well-qualified legacies, and then everyone else that they want to. It seems like she really wants to go and is a good fit for CALS, and Cornell is pretty good at discerning these things. I hope she gets in, and if not for this year, then at least as another GT Best of luck! </p>
<p>@MummyOfCollegian, I went to high school with someone who was waitlisted initially, but later on was offered a GT option. I don’t remember how long after but I think waitlisted students may be offered it but at a later time. I don’t know how many, but it is a possibility. I would contact the school and ask. </p>
<p>Yes, Concerto95, my d also heard that, and even broached the possibility of a GT in her “letter of enthusiasm” to the admissions office at CALC, but got a boilerplate “thank you for your continued interest…the admissions decisions are final” etc etc -type response that I’m sure goes out to all the wait listed applicants who write in. She doesn’t want to initiate any more contact at this point for fear of seeming whiny or a sore loser. It does sound like the GTs are offered only to a select number of those on the wait list, unfortunately, and that group may be predetermined by now --but who knows? I’m certainly not going to circumvent her and call them.
Many thanks, Coriander23! I wish what we know about wait list stats were more encouraging.
I don’t do Facebook, but maybe I’ll suggest TheClown’s fb group to d, though I bet she’ll say it’ll just make her more upset to read the posts of those who got the GT. We sent in our deposit to UMass Amherst the other day and she’s trying to warm to that prospect.
Still, I’m sure every parent on this board knows exactly what it’s like to see the confusion and disappointment in a child’s face after so many years of hard work and hope, especially when there’s something really inscrutable at the center of it, such as this Wait List vs. GT conundrum. I wish I had an answer for her, too, other than to say, Yeah, I know grown-ups sometimes organize things for no apparent reason in a way that makes kids’ lives a lot more frustrating.
Congratulations to all you GTers! Ithaca’s the most fantastic place in the world. You’re going to love it there!</p>
<p>@ MummyOfCollegian: Yea that’s tough! And I’m going to Umass Amherst as well, so if your daughter needs any support, I’m here!! :)</p>
<p>Anyone else going to penn state for their one year?</p>
<p>@wowed777 One of my friends got a GT for Cornell IRL, and I think she’s going to Penn State Honors. I don’t know how serious she is about Cornell though</p>
<p>UVM for me. Not sure how much I’ll be thinking of ILR as I’m heading on the bus to Stowe every weekend with the ski and snowboard club. This should be a crazy year.</p>
<p>All of the GTs I know were legacies and their stats were quite a bit lower than accepted students and then what some of you have posted; ie none of them had offers to any other Ivies or anything close. I agree with the waitlisted parent above as well - anyone else have any insight into who gets this GT offer and how many actually matriculate into Cornell? I agree maintaining a 3.0 is not setting the bar very high, so I’m also curious as to how these students do, especially pre-med or econ, if their first year college was less rigorous than Cornell.</p>
<p>@2cents4u, I am an accepted GT going to CALS as a bio major in the fall. If you are curious about past GT’s check out the other threads on CC. From my experience, its is true that some GT’s are legacies, but I also know many who got it that aren’t, including myself. I also was offered admission to multiple schools close to standing of Cornell, but chose to go to a state school for a year to save up money knowing I would soon transfer to my dream school. It is odd that GPA requires are low for certain majors but most GTs far exceed those requirements, most likely because (such as in my case) they want to apply to a graduate or professional program, that will see these grades. Even though for most its a 3.0, you still need a B or above in everything. Also, most GT’s are capable of doing this because it was hard enough and selective enough getting the GT in the first place. I think Cornell knows this in a way. </p>
<p>@2cents4u - I’m a non-legacy GT’er as well, haha. After my deferral, I meticulously went back and checked past results threads, and it seemed like a lot of people who got this offer were deferred, legacies, or both. From the Cornell Sun: “In 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available, about 1,500 of 34,000 freshman applicants — or less than five percent — received the option, according to Jason Locke, director of undergraduate admissions.” I don’t know how many actually go through with the GT offer–probably not that many, though. I feel like you have to really want Cornell to put up with this! Again, this is probably why the two groups above tend to get the bulk of GT’s, because we’re most likely to use it. </p>
<p>I was accepted to UC Berkeley, UCLA, Boston College, and several other schools with a 2320 and ~3.9 UW. I’m turning them down to go to another well-regarded, albeit slightly easier state flagship this fall. The only other Ivy I applied to was Brown and was indeed rejected, so I guess I’m 1 for 8, but I don’t mind. I’m really excited to be a Cornellian next year! </p>